"Daz, okay?" Madison asked as she gazed at his near-frozen form.
He was quickly warming up but he was still covered head-to-toe in ice and snow. His skin was almost blue from the cold.
Perhaps he would have been forced to kill Lord Lit'ur with Laughing Skull if the fight had dragged on for any longer given his current state.
He smiled faintly at her, a challenge in his current condition. "Yes, thank you though. It's easy to ignore just by being near you."
Madison's expressionless face turned a shade of red. "Charmer."
"Only for you, Maddy," Daz replied as he tried his best to smile kindly. "While we wait for me to stop looking like a walking popsicle, how about you fuse that sword with Family? We're more than safe now."
Madison nodded. "Mmm, okay."
She unsheathed her longsword and slowly pressed it against the thin blade that just recently belonged to Lord Lit'ur.
There seemed to be some resistance, showing the worth and power of the weapon that had failed to land even a single blow on Daz at the hands of the frozen lord.
Madison imbued Family with her Ember of Edges and applied a handful of buffing skills via chanting mentally judging from the new aura covering the blade.
A few seconds later, the cyan icy metal that made up most of Lord Lit'ur's sword lost all power to resist and became one with Family.
Family now sported a near-identical copy of the slender weapon engraved onto the hilt. Its blade also had a colder sheen to its edge, Daz noticed.
"Can that pop out and act as a second sword? As in, is Family a kind of sheath now on top of being a weapon?" he wondered aloud.
Madison shook her head. "No, but, ice, attacks, now."
"Interesting... Think Family can win against the Overgiant's sword yet?" Daz asked, referring to the massive weapon that had created a ravine in Atlantis.
Said ravine which was still proving to be pretty difficult to repair without spending merit points.
The reason why the system had given him such an odd quest like to fully repair Atlantis without consuming any merit points still escaped him to this day. It was a hassle to work on and half the time Daz wanted to just fail it intentionally, in all honesty.
Madison frowned with her eyes. "Unsure. Maybe. Don't, try, until, certain."
Daz nodded before his eyes flashed with a powerful hue of grey. "That seems wise. Anyway, you people hiding behind the door over there, come in. I won't kill you."
Madison looked confused but chose to step into Mr Barrier's protection to keep the twins extra safe from any potential threats.
Daz approved of this. Mr Barrier had proven to be true to his status thus far, having the power to create one unbreakable barrier at all times. Then again, nothing was certain. The Truthian's had made that painfully clear.
Even his immunity to mental and soul attacks didn't spare him from all of Lord Lit'ur's powers so caution was a wise approach for his fiancée to take in his mind.
A set of the western side doors swung open slowly, revealing the eavesdroppers. Daz immediately recognised one of the two people that had entered the throne room.
"You... The Champion of Pistols, was it?" Daz asked calmly.
He had met this man who was slightly younger than himself during the Power-Stripped Survival Test in the System's Grand Auction. In fact, that was the very same test that Madison had earned Mr Barrier in.
"Ahaha, you remember me?" the ordinary-looking teenager asked as he scratched the gills at his neck in embarrassment.
"I rarely forget anything," Daz casually answered before he glanced at the old woman wearing a polar bear's fur coat and a strange bracelet.
"The dagger sealed away in that armpiece of yours..." Daz narrowed his eyes. "It feels very familiar... You wouldn't happen to be the Alaskan granny who successfully annoyed that self-centred gifter of odd things, would you?"
"... He did mention you had a scary intuition in one of his letters. Guilty as charged," the woman said with a warm smile.
"I see... Would you mind if I looked at it? The dagger, that is," Daz requested.
Frustrating as the player Altros' words were to read, whether willingly or not, his gifts were very useful.
Rimmy alone had been a boon of immeasurable value, needless to mention the self-destructive but ultimately beneficial unlucky dice. The five Stars of Eternity were almost pricelessly valuable too.
Reika, while not overly helpful in combat, had still been a nice companion to have permanent access to.
For someone as unwilling to trust as he was, knowing her loyalty was bound to her continued survival had given a lot of peace of mind to him both before he had regained his emotions, and when he was first getting used to having them back after 20-years of absence.
The Travelling Gear of Altros was nearing on useless but with a ratio of four to one with the four being good and one being bad, there was a relatively substantial chance that Daz could find a use for the dagger.
The old woman shrugged, presenting her wrist to him. "Sure. You can have it if you can make it stop following me. Thing's bound to my soul."
Daz nodded. "Gladly, but not now. I do specialise in souls as an Archreaper so perhaps there is hope yet. I'm in no rush though. I assume we'll have plenty of time to discuss that dagger and Altros himself later. Maybe after I've dealt with the Truthian's and a few other lingering threats on Earth."
He immediately tried to use his Crystal Digger's Master Identification on the weapon despite his words but was met with a surprise.
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'Interesting. So Master Identification isn't completely unstoppable. Just knowing that is incredibly valuable,' Daz thought.
Lowering her arm, the Alaskan granny beamed a loving smile as if she had just been given a drawing from her grandchild. "I'd like that."
"Now, on to more important topics," Daz said, "Names? I don't want to call you 'Alaskan Granny' and 'the Champion of Pistols' forever, especially considering you both are here representing the hundreds of other people still lingering around in this palace, yes?"
"I'm Eric, Eric Stalway. English born and raised," the teenager said proudly with a toothy grin. "And yeah, though they're all waiting in the dungeon. Not everyone trusts that the Owned suddenly all dying like they got turned off isn't a trap."
Daz nodded. "There is wisdom in such actions," he noted as he met eyes with the old woman.
She kept smiling and said, "Carol will do, Your Majesty."
Daz shook his head. "No need for formality. It helps with an Ember of mine but I truly do not enjoy embracing titles, especially amongst peers."
"Peers?" Eric questioned which he rubbed his gills again. "We're a lot weaker than you. I thought I might have had a chance when we first met but I couldn't even hope to touch that frozen bag of peas who used to sit where you're getting yourself nice and cozy," he said, gesturing at the throne beneath Daz's arse. "As if I can do anything to the guy who beat him." He then shrugged. "You've grown a lot, man."
"True, but we are peers in that both you and I are champions of lower gods," Daz replied before looking at Carol, "and we share a bond through Altros. Being removed from humanity and seen as a ruler and not as a person by my own people is more than enough."
He spoke his true thoughts to these two simply because from his Ember of Empathy he could feel a great sense of joy, thankfulness, and relief.
If they were so appreciative of him accidentally killing Lord Lit'ur then he would be sure to have one of his daily annoyances not be recreated by them as recompense.
"Now, tell me. What brought you here and why were you captured instead of turned to ice or an Owned?" Daz asked, giving no room to argue against him.
Carol spoke first, "We are happy to answer all of those questions and tell you everything we know about this place but... can you promise to free us after?"
Daz raised an eyebrow before coming to a realisation. "The storm. Hmm... If it threatens you so much, how did you even make it to the palace in the first place?"
"We were almost immediately attacked when we entered this dimension or whatever the heck it is," Eric explained. "I killed two Owned before I could hardly move thanks to the cold. Got knocked clean out then woke up in a cell underground."
He tapped the floor with the point of his foot to emphasise they were held beneath it in some regard.
Daz slowly nodded. "I see. Yes, I can agree to bring both of you out. I can promise nothing about everyone else though. I need to speak to each individual person first before that. So, please, tell me what you know."
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About an hour had passed before Daz stopped questioning the two and had asked Eric and Carol to go summon the other prisoners to the throne hall.
He intended to ask each and every one of them questions while he searched for lies and checked their crime lists.
After all, he couldn't afford to not be careful and he had nothing but time until his next opportunity to gain a Star of Eternity from El Dorado.
These people were all powerful in their own rights since they had chosen to enter this place. Even if they had lacked the courage to band together to attack Lord Lit'ur and his minions, there was still worth to be found in them.
Adding them to the forces of New Earth could be very beneficial if they hadn't already pledged themselves elsewhere.
Eric and Carol had given him much to think about as well.
For a start, Lord Lit'ur had never really stated where he was from since he only ever interacted with them when he held a banquet.
Said banquets were hosted every time someone either made it to the palace themselves like Daz's group had or when a person had been knocked out and transported here by the Owned.
However, despite that, the palace itself gave some clues about the mysterious ruler of this uninhabited city as did a few choice uses of the Identification skill.
Everyone who had used the skill on him had died but some had been able to transfer the gained information around before their execution.
Lord Lit'ur was actually a native of Lian'wa'runda itself. He had never stepped foot outside of the snowy dimension and neither had many generations of his family.
That was if the secondhand information from dead people could be trusted. Eric and Carol weren't lying, sure, but Daz could never fully believe anything without sufficient evidence or before hearing it from the source himself.
Still, it was something to think over.
Ember of Majesty [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 36%.
Not an unexpected boon since he was currently determining the goals and origin of hundreds of people from upon Lord Lit'ur's throne.
To further expand upon the icy man's background, his supposed system status hadn't said much about him but apparently it claimed his people were once attackers invading the planet who had been forced to stay on Earth after a failed trial.
Now, that, well, that interested Daz greatly. Any information regarding the trials, whether past or present, could be useful.
The two had also explained to him that they had a hunch the snowstorm as well as this city itself could be controlled from a single room.
Sadly, this was just a theory since they were never allowed past their cells outside of the feasts. It made sense to Daz considering killing the former lord hadn't granted him Lian'wa'runda immediately.
Atlantis needed him to gain Mofolo's acknowledgement, El Dorado needed the approval of the mummies, Ak and Tek. Perhaps this place had a similar requirement for it to be liberated entirely.
Right at that moment while Daz was questioning a middle-aged man with, ironically enough, an ice-magic tome as his weapon, the entire palace shook.
Daz held onto the armrests of the throne while the people in the room fell over and tried to steady themselves onto each other though the shaking didn't subside even after a few moments. Instead. it only got even stronger.
"Maddy!" he called, "Stay here with the girls. Make sure nothing happens to them, the egg, and most importantly, to you."
Madison wore a worried expression, "Daz, investigate?"
He nodded before getting up and sprinting away. This was no natural earthquake or whatever else it was, of that, he was certain.
Daz ran down a corridor outside of the throne room only for the shaking to get lighter a few hundred meters down so he turned around and bolted the other way, towards the source.
'Whatever is causing this, I have to stop it. It could collapse the whole fucking city. This is my city, or at least, it will be,' Daz thought with resolve.
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The tremors only grew more and more violent as Daz made his way through the palace's hallways.
Statues of both ice and stone as well as paintings littered the floor, either destroyed entirely or so badly damaged they were unrecognisable. The walls, flooring and even ceiling were cracked beyond repair.
If it weren't for his high Agility Daz feared that even he would have been thrown off of his feet at this point.
It was bad enough that eventually, he decided to just ride Hamson through the corridors towards the source of this mess.
He already had some ideas about what was going on though they were only theories. 'It's more than likely that someone is taking the opportunity to seize Lian'wa'runda now that Lord Lit'ur is dead.'
The real question was who was doing it? The most likely candidate in his mind was Ellie. She had been oddly cagey about the details of her quests and she'd been gone for a while now.
However, if she truly was the one doing this, even if it wasn't in order to gain control of the mythical city, it was still a betrayal of sorts.
Either she was somehow ruining what was soon to be Daz's property or she was directly stealing it out from under him. Either option made little sense to the reaper.
'She's a very hurt woman but she isn't stupid... Maybe I'm too paranoid. It could just be a prisoner trying their luck or even something completely unrelated to another person. Maybe now that this place is ownerless, it's going haywire. Although, my instincts say nothing. I'm in no danger whatsoever...' Daz could only hope he was wrong.
He wasn't entirely sure what he would do if Ellie had betrayed him. It would be the first time a loyal citizen- no, a friend had so openly gone against his wishes and he feared what he would have to do to prevent something similar from happening again if that were truly the case here.
Regardless, he pressed on towards the source of this endless and mighty earthquake.